The Dallas Police Association will not endorse a Republican candidate for district attorney because his firm is representing a man who is suing a former Dallas police officer for shooting him.

The decision not to support Tom Nowak came on the heels of a series of heated online exchanges Wednesday between members of the DPA and Nowak, who is facing Susan Hawk in the March Republican primary. The winner will go against Democratic incumbent Craig Watkins.

“I find it disheartening because I think I’m the best candidate,” Nowak said Wednesday. “I think I’m a much better candidate for Dallas police officers and Dallas citizens than either of my opponents.”

Nowak is an attorney in the firm of Henley & Henley, which represents Kelvion Walker in the civil rights suit against Amy Wilburn. Wilburn was fired in late December after an internal investigation found she violated the department’s deadly force policy. Nowak said he has no involvement with the Walker case.

In a written statement, DPA president Ron Pinkston said that there “is no way in good conscience we as the Dallas Police Association can support anyone that makes money off officers as a result of them performing their duties as a police officer.” He said the group has not decided who, if anybody, to endorse in the race.

The uproar surrounding Police Chief David Brown’s firing of Police Senior Cpl. Amy Wilburn continued Friday as the president of the Dallas Police Association sent the interim city manager a letter outlining a litany of complaints and concerns.

Brown fired Wilburn over the Dec. 9 shooting of an unarmed carjacking suspect who was in a stolen car that had been taken in a robbery about 45 minutes earlier in which shots were fired. An independent witness has said that the man had his hands up when she shot him. Her attorney has said that Wilburn feared for her life and that the man did not show one of his hands when ordered to do so.

“Dallas Police Officers no longer know when they can use deadly force and, if they do, question whether they are going to be fired if they are forced to,” Pinkston said.

Pinkston, who became president about two years ago, wrote that the association has “tried to work with DPD management” and “stood by management on many occasions, including the Southwest drug debacle and the botched handling of the South Dallas rapist.”

“We have been silent as members have been fired before they have had a final criminal disposition,” Pinkston wrote. “No longer does the DPA only focus on better pay and benefits but also the productivity of our officers. We understand that you cannot have one without the other.

One man was killed and another injured when a gunman opened fire on their car on Christmas Eve in the Red Bird area of Dallas.

Kirkpatrick Goodson, 24, died at a local hospital from a gunshot wound to the neck. David Reed, 30, was listed in serious condition, according to police records.

According to police records, the shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in an apartment complex in the 7900 block of Leigh Ann Drive. Witnesses told police that there had been an argument between the victims and the suspect.

The suspect pulled a gun and shot Reed in the buttocks. Goodson and another man got into a car and tried to drive away, but the suspect walked up to the car and shot Goodson multiple times.

An arrest for murder has been issued for the suspect, who is a juvenile.

Henry Melton was arrested at a Dallas-area bar faces charges of assault and public intoxication. Grapevine police Sgt. Robert Eberling says Melton was arrested on Sunday at Chill Sports Bar after becoming belligerent and refusing to leave.

A Chicago Bears defensive tackle faces a charge of assault and public intoxication following an early Sunday morning disturbance at downtown Grapevine bar.

Henry Melton, 27, was released from the Grapevine city jail Sunday after posting bond, said Sgt. Robert Eberling, a police spokesman.

“Melton allegedly was belligerent with some of the staff members of the restaurant,” the spokesman said. “He was asked to leave and he refused to do so.”

As he was being escorted out of the bar, Melton is accused of having struck one of the employees, Eberling said.

“He was restrained at that point. When Grapevine police arrived, he was arrested for public intoxication and charged with assault as well,” the spokesman said.

The assault charge is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. Public intoxication is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine.

His agent, Jordan Woy, told ESPN.com that Melton got into an argument with a bartender but denies assaulting anyone

“He said he didn’t throw a punch at anybody and that he got jumped by a couple of bouncers on the way out,” Woy told ESPN.

Melton has been on injured reserve status since tearing his ACL during a game in September. He attended Grapevine High School and played college football at the University of Texas, according to NFL.com.

An 8-year-old girl remains in critical condition with severe burns at Parkland Memorial Hospital after a relative’s house exploded Saturday afternoon.

Maya Javier suffered second-degree burns on 40 percent of her body, said her uncle Marvin Reinoshek, who owns the one-story brick house. She is in the intensive care unit with a feeding tube, he said Sunday.

Atmos Energy officials, along with the Texas Railroad Commission and the North Richland Hills Fire Department, are investigating whether a natural gas leak may have caused the Saturday afternoon explosion at Reinoshek’s home on Harwood Road.

“Our crews have remained on the scene since yesterday to perform a thorough and complete investigation of our system,” said Jennifer Ryan, a company spokeswoman said Sunday. “We are in the final stages of performing safety tests on our pipeline and we hope to restore natural gas to the area by” Sunday evening.

Atmos officials also said they wanted to remind people to leave the area immediately if they smell natural gas and not to turn on any lights, open a garage door or use a cell phone.

“Any spark can be extremely dangerous when dealing with natural gas,” Ryan said.

When explosion occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, Reinoshek was in the home with his wife, three children, a neighbor’s child and Maya. His niece had come over to play video games.

“She opened the restroom door, turned the light on and the restroom blew up,” he said. The blast blew the restroom door of its hinges and it landed on Maya, who had caught fire.

Reinoshek picked the door off of Maya while his wife put out the flames and helped rush the children out of the home. Reinoshek carried Maya out in his arms.

“She’s a brave little girl that took the impact of that,” he said.

The blast blew out windows and walls, he said.

“I was sitting in a chair in my room and it knocked me out of my chair,” Reinoshek said. “It knocked my phone out of my hand. I was like, ‘what the hell happened?”’

Reinoshek returned to his home Sunday to retrieve some belongings since they only got out of the house with the clothes on their backs. The house is not habitable and he is currently figuring out where he and his family are going to stay.

Council member Dwaine Caraway helped calm a Dixon Circle crowd that gathered after a police officer shot and killed James Harper in August 2012.

A Dallas police officer has been cleared by a grand jury in the shooting of an unarmed man that nearly sparked a riot last summer in the Dixon Circle community of South Dallas.

The grand jury decided Wednesday not to indict Officer Brian Rowden in the July 24 death of James Harper, 31.

“Officer Brian Rowden’s actions in defense of his life were never doubt,” his attorney, Robert Rogers said. “We are glad that this part of the process is over and Brian can focus on serving the citizens of Dallas.”

Authorities have said an exhausted Rowden fatally shot Harper after chasing him on foot and repeatedly struggling with Harper. Rowden told investigators that he believed Harper was reaching for a weapon in his pocket.

The events that led to the fatal shooting began when police officers responded to a “bogus” 911 kidnapping call at a known drug house in the 5300 block of Bourquin Street.

Officers entering the home spotted a gun as four suspects scattered. Officers split up to chase the suspects.

One of them grabbed a gun that was on a table, police said.

Rowden later told investigators that he was exhausted by the time he ended up alone after chasing Harper over three fences and into a horse corral. During a struggle, and fearing he was losing the fight, the officer said, he shot Harper as the suspect reached into a pocket for what was thought to be a weapon. It wasn’t.

Harper, who had a lengthy criminal history including for dealing drugs, assaulting a security officer and evading arrest, died at the scene.

The controversial shooting also prompted a number of changes including the department’s policy of consulting with the FBI on police shootings and the implementation of a foot pursuit policy.